


The Date

by things_that_matter



Series: CMBYN: Life with Ollie [39]
Category: Call Me By Your Name (2017), Call Me By Your Name - All Media Types, Call Me by Your Name - André Aciman
Genre: Babysitting, Comfort, Date Night, Domestic Fluff, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Family Feels, Family Fluff, Intimacy, M/M, Valentine's Day, Valentine's Day Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-12
Updated: 2021-02-12
Packaged: 2021-03-12 01:20:31
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,561
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29376996
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/things_that_matter/pseuds/things_that_matter
Summary: They've secured a babysitter, now what?
Relationships: Oliver/Elio Perlman
Series: CMBYN: Life with Ollie [39]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2094873
Comments: 7
Kudos: 15





	The Date

**Author's Note:**

> Ollie's shenanigans while Elio and Oliver are away will be posted soon. Can Kate handle Ollie?

“But Ollie, I thought you liked Kate,” Elio whispered, rubbing his own damp hair with a towel. 

“Why are you whispering?” Ollie whispered in return. He’d recently begun to realize that when someone whispered, they usually wanted you to whisper, too, even though they didn’t say so. Ollie thought this was a very astute observation on his part, and he was perplexed as to why no one praised him for it. 

“I’m whispering because I don’t want Oliver to hear you complaining,” Elio answered.

“Why not?” Ollie wondered. 

Elio sighed, “Because, Ollie.” Ollie was certainly in hopes that Elio would elaborate, and he wasn’t disappointed because Elio continued, “Oliver is really looking forward to our Valentine’s date tonight.”

“Ewww,” Ollie teased, wrinkling his nose. 

Elio gave him a look of mock injury, “Hey now!”

Suddenly, Ollie couldn’t see anything, as his vision was wholly obstructed by the damp towel Elio had dropped over his head. “How’s that for eww?” Elio laughed. He might be technically an adult, but he would never be too mature to torment his little brother. 

“EWWWW!” Ollie kicked it up a notch with the squeal he let out. Then to really let his feelings be known, Ollie stood on his bed, grasped the damp towel, and laboriously began twisting it into a rope like shape. 

Elio’s face showed curiosity. His lips parted as if to speak, then closed as if speechless. Finally, with fascination tempered with hesitation, he asked, “What in the world are you doing?” 

Ollie couldn’t answer, so focused was he on his towel twisting. Elio smiled at the little tongue poking out of the corner of his little brother’s mouth. Finally Ollie muttered, “You’ll see. Don’t worry… You...Will...See...”

“Oh, that sounded downright villainous. You don’t have hostile intentions toward your big brother, do you?” Elio knew he was goading the child, and he also knew he probably shouldn’t be.

Ollie raised his hands, both of which were holding one end of the towel, sword-like. He tried his best to give it a good flick. But, the towel simply unrolled and fell harmlessly onto the bed. Ollie gave the towel a very displeased look that Elio thought he must have learned from Oliver. 

Meanwhile, Elio burst into a fit of laughter. “You’re not trying to snap me with a towel are you?” 

Ollie scowled, but he began rolling the towel again, undeterred by his bothersome older brother. 

“Let me show you how,” Elio laughed, taking the towel and twisting it tightly. Ollie watched on, annoyed, but also trying to learn. Elio pulled the towel back, and Ollie’s look of annoyance began to change to a look of concern. But then, Elio watched Ollie’s face change again, to relief. Thus, he wasn’t surprised when he heard Oliver’s voice behind him. 

“You’re not about to snap a seven-year-old with a towel are you?” Oliver asked, sporting the same displeased expression that Ollie had given the towel moments before. 

Ollie stuck his tongue out at Elio as he skittered off the foot of the bed and ran around it, around Elio, and then ducked behind Oliver who the little boy was convinced would protect him. 

Elio rolled his eyes, because of course he wouldn’t have snapped his brother with a towel. “I guess I’ll let the little miscreant live,” he teased. Ollie peeked around Oliver’s leg and stuck his tongue out again. 

Oliver reached behind him and pulled Ollie to his side without taking his eyes off of Elio, who looked stunning, still damp from the shower. He couldn’t believe how long it had been since they’d gone out together. They were both content to stay at home, and even preferred it most of the time. Still, everyone needs some alone time with their partner once in a while.

“Ollie, did you finish your homework?” Oliver asked.

“Mostly,” Ollie answered. 

“Okay. I’ll make Elio leave you alone so you can concentrate,” Oliver teased, delighting Ollie. “But, I want it finished before we leave,” he added, delighting Elio. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ollie stood in a cowboy’s stance. Feet apart. Hands on hips. Deep glower on his face. Elio stood back, watching Ollie’s first interaction with the new babysitter since the interview. Elio was sure that when Ollie finally spoke, a miniature Clint Eastwood voice would emerge from his mouth. Actually, Elio decided it might be a full-blown Eastwood voice. 

“Hello, Ollie! I am so happy to see you again,” Kate said with a pleasant smile, seeming not to notice the body language being directed her way. She was one of Oliver’s former graduate students. Oliver was convinced that she was a responsible person who would be suitable for babysitting Ollie. And Elio trusted Oliver, so therefore he trusted Kate. But, he hadn’t left his little brother in anyone’s care before. He suddenly looked so small and vulnerable, even with his puffed up posture. 

“Ollie, you look like the star of The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly,” Oliver said, laughing. He’d just walked into the room. 

Ollie, of course, didn’t know what Oliver was talking about.

Elio did, though. “I’m the good!” he joked. “Ollie, you’re the bad,” he teased, and then laughed heartily at his own joke. “Oliver, I guess that makes you the ugly,” and he was laughing so hard by this point that he suddenly realized no one else was laughing. It was only nervous laughter, which made him even more nervous. He considered sneaking out to the deck for a quick cigarette to calm his nerves. He was definitely having second thoughts on this ‘leaving Ollie with a babysitter’ idea. 

Abruptly, Ollie turned his Clint Eastwood glare to Elio. “I am NOT the bad!!” he growled. 

Oliver, recognizing how distressed Elio was, sauntered over and picked up Ollie. “Elio was only teasing us. I’m not the ugly, either,” he soothed. 

“Yeah and he’s not even the good!” Ollie said, calming down a bit. 

“Elio and I are going to be leaving in about ten minutes. Like we talked about, remember?” Oliver asked the little boy he was holding. 

The tough scowl Ollie had been wearing transformed into a look of worry. 

“Remember?” Oliver gently prompted. 

Ollie nodded. 

“Let’s go over the rules again,” Oliver decided. Elio rolled his eyes and then slipped out onto the deck, picking up the cigarettes discreetly as he passed them. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Elio suddenly felt an elbow jabbing him in the side, startling him and causing him to drop his phone into the popcorn. He turned and gave Oliver a look of vexation. Of course in the darkness of the cinema, Oliver couldn’t see it.

“He is fine, Elio. Put your phone up,” Oliver whispered.

Elio retrieved his phone from the popcorn, wiped it with a greasy napkin, and put it in his pocket. He had only wanted to send a brief text to Kate to find out how Ollie was doing. But, it’s quite difficult to sneak a text in a dark movie theater. 

After the movie, Elio and Oliver walked down to the restaurant where they held a dinner reservation. Being Valentine’s Day, it was very cold, even with their winter coats. Elio was curled into himself, trying to stay warm as he walked. He would have loved to lean into Oliver, walk arm in arm, maybe more. For warmth. For affection. But Elio understood that Oliver wasn’t comfortable showing that kind of physical affection in public. He loved Oliver, that was effortless. Oliver loved him, and that seemed effortless, too. But Oliver’s unwillingness to claim Elio as his special person when walking a street with strangers, that wasn’t easy for Elio, especially on a special day like Valentine’s Day. Especially when it was their first date alone together in months. Especially when it was so cold! But, Elio tried not to press Oliver about it. When you love someone, you accept that they can be perfect for you without being perfect. He was lost in these thoughts when he felt Oliver’s fingers curl around his own. It was subtle. It wouldn’t be noticed by most. But it was noticed by Elio, and his love for Oliver grew somehow. It always amazed Elio when that happened. You thought you loved someone as much as it was possible to love anyone, ever. And then some small moment would happen and your heart would expand, and you would discover you can love them to an even greater extent. Elio gave Oliver’s fingers a small squeeze, and he whispered, “I love you.” 

Oliver smiled. “I love you, too,” Oliver said, and not in a whisper. 

Elio smiled too, that special smile with a special meaning that was all too familiar to Oliver. “I kind of don’t even want to eat now. I want to… go home…” Elio’s voice was heavy with longing.

Oliver returned Elio’s special smile with his own. “We are here. Let’s keep our reservation and go home after,” Oliver suggested. He could see the urgency in Elio’s face, which heightened his own desire as well. “I promised Kate a big tip if Ollie is asleep when we get home,” Oliver commented seductively. 

Elio tried to smile, but he looked almost as if he were in pain, which made Oliver chuckle. It felt good to be desired, especially by someone you found so desirable. 

_Don’t let us down, Kate_ … they both thought. 

  
  
  
  



End file.
